Library Lovers discussion

What are we reading in 2022?

Zelda
Nancy Milford
2.5/5 stars
This is the story of Zelda Fitzgerald, her life, her marriage to Scott Fitzgerald and her fight against mental illness. This was an awfully long book not helped by the extremely small print. It seemed to me that a lot of the information was repeated but the author was thorough in her research.

Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen – 4****
What a delight to listen to this again. Having done so previously, and also having watched the PBS miniseries, I have an even greater appreciation for Austen's send-up of gothic novels. It's just a charming story and so well told! And, of course, we have a romantic HEA ending! What's not to like?
My full review HERE

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Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo – 4****
Evaristo’s collection of short stories earned her the 2019 Booker Prize, the first black woman to be so honored. As the title implies, the stories all focus on women and girls from childhood to old age and are primarily set in current-day Britain. The book features wide variety of unforgettable characters that fairly leap off the page, and the stories are loosely interconnected. I can hardly wait for my F2F book club discussion!
My full review HERE

Thanks for starting a new thread!

Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle
Mary J. MacLeod
5/5 stars
This was a wonderful recollection of a nurse’s time working on a Scottish Isle in the late sixties. There are two more books in this collection and I look forward to them. This reminds me of the writings of James Herriot’s books.

Jack Maggs – Peter Carey – 3***
I had heard that this was inspired by Dickens’ Great Expectations . I can see similarities, though the focus here is not on Pip but on Magwitch. I did get quite caught up in Jack Maggs’s story and wondered a few times how Carey was going to wrap this up. The plot is definitely convoluted in places, with many twists and turns, and I did not really appreciate the Tobias Oates subplot. Carey’s writing is very atmospheric, and the city of London is explored in some detail, especially the impoverished slums and criminal underbelly.
My full review HERE

The Abortion
Richard Brautigan
4/5 stars
This is the story of a young man who runs an unusual library where the patrons bring books that they wrote to be added to the library. One day he meets Vida, a young woman who writes poetry and has a book to add to the library. They fall in love and she becomes pregnant leading them to go to Tijuana for an abortion. This was quite an unusual book but very intriguing.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies – Deesha Philyaw – 4****
In this wonderful collection of short stories, Philyaw explores the modern African-American woman and her hopes, dreams, relationships, and actions both in and away from church. The stories feature all ages, from children to great-grandmothers. Philyaw does a marvelous job of bringing these many characters to life. I could see a few of these stories expanded to novel length, but I find them satisfying in and of themselves.
My full review HERE

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
4 stars
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Unfortunately, the idea that a company is only concerned about profits and not whether their product is harming people or the environment is all too common. That is basically the premise of this book. What makes Purdue Pharma stand out from other companies is the Sackler family. Other companies do not have just one family that is pocketing the money. It is hard to explain in a review the depths this family takes to deny the devastation the drug Oxycotin has caused and still does to this day. I appreciate the amount of research that went into making this book and the effort the author seems to take to remain impartial. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because at times it seemed a little long winded and repetitive.

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Mary Roach
4/5 stars

One of my favorite authors is Mary Roach and she does not disappoint in this book about the space program and living in space. She discusses the myriad of problems of living in space including living in confined quarters, eating, washing and toilet issues. This still holds up even though it was written in 2010.

Resistance Women – Jennifer Chiaverini – 3.5***
This is a work of historical fiction concentrating on the women who worked in Germany as part of the resistance movement to thwart Hitler’s ambitions. I was engaged and interested from beginning to end. The novel spans the time from June 1929 to the year following the end of the war, 1946. I had to wonder at times, whether Chiaverini was lifting certain phrases and descriptions of the political climate that led to the rise of Nazism from current-day news reporting and commentary. It was chillingly familiar.
My full review HERE

“O” Is For Outlaw – Sue Grafton – 4****
Book # 15 in the popular Alphabet series starring private investigator (and former cop) Kinsey Millhone. I love that the series is set in a time before computers and cell phones, when investigators (whether police or private detectives) needed to be both inventive and persistent in tracking down all the leads and possibilities.
My full review HERE

Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Hickman
4/5 stars
This was a wonderful autobiography of Dwayne Hickman who starred in the TV series The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis which aired from 1959-1963. He talks about his life on the show, his career as an actor and life after being an actor including running a Las Vegas resort and later as a CBS executive where he managed comedic shows like MASH and more. Highly recommended!

The Girl With no Shadow – Joanne Harris – 3***
In this follow-up to Chocolat Vianne Rouche and her daughter Anouk are living in the Montmartre section of Paris with new identities – Yanne Charbonneau and Annie – and a second daughter, Rosette. This was an interesting sequel but I missed the humor and romance of the original. It’s a much darker tale and the three narrators makes it a bit confusing. It held my attention, but I’m not sure I’ll bother with book three in the trilogy.
My full review HERE

The Child in Time
Ian McEwan
3/5 stars
A young couple’s daughter is kidnapped at a grocery store and the couple struggle to deal with the loss of their child and end up separating. Will they ever get over their grief and re-unite? Not my favorite of his books but never the less, it is compelling!

Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia – 3***
This is not the kind of book I normally read, but I was fascinated by the story and gripped by the tension. The atmosphere is dark and chilling. It reminded me a bit of The Ruins by Scott Smith, and/or Stephen King’s The Shining . But it entirely Moreno-Garcia’s own story. I did wonder why she incorporated an English family with their English-style mansion; perhaps she felt her readers wouldn’t identify with malevolence in an adobe hacienda.
My full review HERE

National Lampoon Presents More True Facts: An All-New Collection of Absurd-But-True Real-Life Funny Stuff

Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table

Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell

My Heart Is a Chainsaw

The Halloween Tree
Ray Bradbury
4/5 stars
It is Halloween and Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, a sinister man appears to a group of friends who are about to go trick or treating but their friend Pip is missing. Moundshroud takes them on a journey which transcends time and place to find their friend. I enjoyed this Bradbury tale.

Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today by Valerie Bertinelli
3 stars


I've read two of the authors other books and this one seemed like more of the same. This time she delves deeper into her relationship with Eddie Van Halen. Even though they were divorced, she remained close with him. She doesn't talk at all about her current relationship and according to a search it looks like they were divorced around the time the book came out. I wondered what her more recent husband and Eddie's current wife up until his death thought about how close they were. I became annoyed at all the drama over her weight when she states repeatedly how an extra 5 to 10 pounds makes her feel so ugly and unloved. YES! 5 TO 10! So now she is at peace with her 5 to 10 pounds, but she was in her other books also. I think if she comes out with another book about her low self-esteem I will probably skip it.

Ordeal By Innocence – Agatha Christie – 3***
I really enjoy Agatha Christie’s mysteries; there’s a good reason she’s often called “the Queen of Crime.” But this one didn’t really capture my attention. Of course, I was listening to the audio and the many characters were sometimes hard to differentiate. It also seemed somewhat melodramatic and “overacted” … but perhaps that is the fault of the narrator and not Christie’s writing.
My full review HERE

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When Life Gives You Lululemons – Lauren Weiberger – 3***
Book three in the Devil Wears Prada trilogy focuses on Emily, the first assistant to Amanda Priestly in the original book. This is not quite so snarky as the original, which I found to be great fun to read, but it’s very entertaining. The suburbs take a beating with Weisberger making fun of the “moms who lunch” (or, more often, fast and do Pilates). A fun, fast beach read of a novel.
My full review HERE

Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
3/5 stars
A young, woman artist, along with her boyfriend and another couple, travel to an isolated island in Quebec. She is searching for her father who has gone missing and they end up staying in his cabin. Unfortunately, the longer she stays there, the relationships between her friends and lover strain and the more her state of mind unravels. Not my favorite of all her books but I love her writing and the ideas she provokes.

The Yellow Wallpaper and Selected Writings – Charlotte Perkins Gilman – 4****
The title short story is Gilman’s classic story of a woman driven mad by her husband’s controlling “remedy” for her post-partum depression. . First published in 1892, Gilman’s story ignited some controversy, and she has been hailed as a feminist. She certainly is that. Frankly, I was not a great fan of this story and dreaded reading the rest of the collection as a result, but I’m glad I persisted. The stories celebrate the advantages of living a full life, identifying one’s strengths and nurturing those talents, and following one’s dreams. While the focus is on women – how they are repressed, how they overcome, how they succeed – more than one man benefits from adapting to a change in traditional roles.
My full review HERE

Sand Castle Bay – Sheryl Woods – 2.5**
I’ve never read anything by Sheryl Woods before, but this seemed to fit the bill for a “beach reads” challenge. It’s a pretty formulaic plot: long-lost lovers reconnect, but there are complications keeping them apart, they jump to conclusions and have fights over their mutual misunderstandings. But hot kisses seem to solve everything and remind them how much they mean to one another. I thought it was overly complicated and there are several threads that are just left hanging. But I suppose Woods did this to ensure a repeat audience for books two and three in the trilogy.
My full review HERE

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Cockroaches – Jo Nesbø – 3***
Book two in the popular Norwegian mystery series, has Inspector Harry Hole traveling to Bangkok to investigate the murder of Norway’s Ambassador to Thailand. Nesbø crafts a complicated plot with many twists and turns and enough suspects, and side plots, to distract the most dedicated detective – and reader. His descriptions definitely evoked the sights, sounds, smells and flavors of Bangkok for me. I did find myself cringing quite a bit at the more violent scenes. So, if you are bothered by such graphic depictions this is probably not the series for you.
My full review HERE

¡Hola Papi! – John Paul Brammer – 3***
This collection of essays serves as a memoir and self-help guide to pressing questions about growing up, surviving break ups, finding love, and all the issues young people – both gay and straight – have to navigate in the process of becoming adults. The beginning of each chapter poses a question asking for advice. And by way of answering such queries, he recounts his experiences in a small Oklahoma town, his horrible middle-school years, his confusing teenage years in the closet, his awakening in college, and his eventual move to New York.
My full review HERE

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Jumbo: This Being the True Story Of the Greatest Elephant In the World – Paul Chambers – 3***
This is a “biography” of the African elephant who gave the world a new word for large, gigantic, stupendous, huge, magnificent: Jumbo. Chambers details how the young calf was captured by nomadic Hamran traders, subsequently became the darling of Victorian England, and eventually was a star attraction of P T Barnum’s circus in America. I found it fascinating to learn how the giant elephant was trained and appreciated learning more about the various personalities surrounding Jumbo. But there were times when the story dragged even for me, an admitted fanatic when it comes to elephants.
My full review HERE

Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness – 3***
Book two in the All Souls Trilogy picks up where book one left off. Diana and Matthew find themselves in 16th-century England, in search of the elusive Ashmole manuscript and a tutor for Diana so she can learn her craft. I didn’t feel the same passion between the central characters that I found so enjoyable in book one. The full story hasn’t yet finished and I’ll probably read book three in the trilogy, but I’m in no hurry to do so.
My full review HERE

Longbourn – Jo Baker – 3.5***
I really enjoyed this follow-up version to Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice . Yes, the major events from P&P are all present, but Baker gives us a rich background to the Longbourn and Netherfield servants that are mostly invisible in Austen’s classic. Regency England had many rules and restrictions that governed proper behavior, whether for the ladies and gentlemen of the upper class, or the servants, farmers and tradespeople in the towns. And this adds an additional layer of suspense in the slow-burn romance between Sarah and her paramour.
My full review HERE

A Children’s Bible – Lydia Millet – 4****
I’m not a great fan of post-apocalyptic stories but this one grabbed me. Evie’s narration is often times emotionless, almost a “just the facts, M’am” recitation. But nevertheless, the tension builds, as the children fend for themselves in a world devastated by a major hurricane and plagued by lawlessness. I think it would be a good candidate for a book group discussion, with the symbolism, allegory, and inherent warnings about global warming and consumer excess.
My full review HERE

Nurse, Come You Here!: More True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle
Mary J. MacLeod
5/5 stars
This is the second book in the series of MacLeod’s life as a nurse and mother. In this one the family, re-locates to California due to her husband’s new job. She talks about life in the USA compared to life on the Scottish Isle they lived on but unfortunately, she was unable to work as a nurse since she did not have a license to practice in the US. I am enjoying her books. There is one more book in the series that I look forward to reading.

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

4 enthusiastic stars!

I almost gave this one five stars -- it's incredibly enlightening and useful -- but I stopped short of that because Gladwell writes as if there were no happy medium between trusting indiscriminately and being a blanket paranoid. With that said there was a great deal in here to chew on and use in daily life, and especially at work. Every page opened my eyes farther. This is the kind of book a person needs to revisit periodically in order to squeeze everything out of it. I certainly plan to do that. While not true crime per se, this book is about all kinds of crimes -- the perps vary from Bernie Madoff to Adolf Hitler -- and how they bamboozle us, not because they're so good at it but because we are all fundamentally bad at reading each other.

Nice Work – Celia Imrie – 3***
Book two in the Nice series. Love the double entendre of the title as this book is set near Nice, Cannes and Marseille in a charming small French town full of colorful characters and a tight group of expats who are trying to make a new life on the Cote d’Azur. This is a fun, enjoyable read with a bit of intrigue and a likeable cast of recurring characters. Some of the family drama from book one spills over into this tale.
My full review HERE

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson
4 stars


If you have read other books about the Kennedy family, or if you have lived through most of the Kennedy years, you probably won't find anything new here. However, if you are looking for a concise version of each of the children of Joe and Rose Kennedy and some of the more well-known grandchildren, this would be excellent. I think we get a romantic idea about the Camelot years, but they were far from perfect. It seems almost everyone has some skeletons in their closet. This was easy to read and not at all text-bookish.

Things My Son Needs to Know about the World
Fredrik Backman
4/5 stars
This non-fiction book revolves around the author Fredrik Backman, his relationship with his son and what he wants to teach him. I have always enjoyed his books and this non-fiction doesn’t disappoint. Short but very sweet!

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen – 4****
It's no wonder this is a classic. Austen is simply the master of dialogue. The way in which the characters interact brings them to life. From Mrs Bennet’s hysterics, to Lydia’s self-centered teen-aged giddiness, to Mr Collins’ simpering diatribes, to Jane’s cautious and measured observations, to Elizabeth’s outrage and clever responses to Darcy and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the dialogue simply sparkles.
My full review HERE

Book Concierge wrote: "

Pride and Prejudice
– Jane Austen – 4****
It's no wonder this is a classic. Austen is simply the master of dialogue. The way in which the characters intera..."

I loved that book!

Breakfast of Champions
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
3/5 stars
Writer Kilgore Trout who writes fiction finds out that a car dealer thinks he is writing the truth in this unusual satire. I thought I had read some Vonnegut before this book but nothing comes up in my logs. I’m not sure if I would read any more of his books though he is highly acclaimed.

Devil in Winter – Lisa Kleypas – 3***
Book number three in the Wallflower series is a fun romp of a regency romance. The action moves forward at a steady pace, there are dastardly villains, innocent damsels, mysterious foreigners, handsome heroes, and a feisty heroine.
My full review HERE

Leonard and Hungry Paul – Rónán Hession – 4****
Two thirty-something single men are friends. They each live at home, they play board games, take satisfaction in their work, like to read, and are, in general, nice. Can quiet, gentle people change the world? Oh, I loved this book! I liked how Hession showed us these two men slowly and gently, revealing their strengths and flaws, as we got to know them. The ending is perfect. Happy and hopeful but not tied up in a nice, neat bow.
My full review HERE

Child Possessed by David St. Clair
4 stars

I brought this home expecting it to be a routine horror novel. Instead I found the novelized true story of Mary Roff and Lurancy Vennum, so well written that I almost felt I was really visiting the Midwest around the time of the Civil War. Bizarre true story with the happiest ending a reader could hope for...under the circumstances.

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
4 stars...or do I mean Kuiper Belt Objects?

This is one I've meant to get to for ages. The true story of the discovery of Eris, along with a slew of other space rocks with names like Santa and Easterbunny. Along the way we also learn the life story of the man who's discovered and named more of those floating rocks than anyone in human history. Full of humor, hard work, and a general sense of enchantment with the mysteries of the night sky. There's even some criminal activity in here and enough scandal and discord to satisfy me. A fitting welcome to our long-awaited 10th planet. No, dwarf planet. No, Kuiper Belt Object. Oh, I don't know.

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Revenge Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger – 2**
Subtitle: The Devil Returns. This is a follow-up to the immensely popular The Devil Wears Prada . Andy and Emily have joined forces to launch a high-end bridal magazine that is very successful. I didn’t much like either of these two lead characters and how they handled their professional and personal relationships. I’d already read book three in the series (which focuses on Emily), so that may have colored my reactions.
My full review HERE

Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office
Brian Baumgartner and Ben Silverman
4/5 stars
I loved The Office and when I found this book at the library, I put everything else down to read this wonderful book told by everyone who acted, produced , wrote and worked on the series. If you haven’t seen the series -don’t read this book but definitely see the series then read this book. Highly recommended for fans of the series!

The Whale Rider – Witi Ihimaera – 5***** and a ❤
What a wonderful story. Magical, mystical, and yet completely relatable. Eight-year-old Kahu wants nothing so much as to please her Grandfather and be loved by him. But he dismisses her as a “useless girl.” Still, her grandmother, father and uncle champion her cause, as she comes of age and proves that she has what it takes to become chief and lead her people.
My full review HERE

Lisey's Story
Stephen King
3/5 stars
Lisey Debusher's husband, Scott, a famous writer died a couple of years ago after a long marriage. Lisey continues struggling from his death and goes to place to where he fought his demons. With the help of one of her sister's, she comes to terms with her life with Scott and his death.
Not my favorite book of King's, I found it awfully long and somewhat repetitive.

Furious Hours – Casey Cep – 3.5*** rounded up
Subtitle: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. This is a combination of a true crime exploration of the serial killer Reverend Willie Maxwell, and a mini biography of Harper Lee. I found the entire story fascinating, but then I am a fan of both Lee and true crime books. However, I think the author would have been less successful with this book without the Lee hook, and that somehow just didn’t sit right with me. So, three stars: I liked it; other true-crime or Lee fans will probably like it too.
My full review HERE

West Side Rising – Char Miller & Julian Castro – 4****
Subtitle: How San Antonio's 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement. I grew up in San Antonio’s West Side and witnessed many a flood in our neighborhood. This book explores not only the results of the city’s founding in a flood plain, but the political decisions – motivated by class and racial prejudice – that ensured that the areas poorest citizens would continue to suffer for centuries despite contributing tax dollars to help the wealthy stay dry. And how, a group of those West Side residents, fueled by yet another flood, marshalled their collective political power to achieve major changes.
My full review HERE

The Duke and I – Julia Quinn – 3.5***
Book one in the Bridgertons series. This was everything a regency romance should be. There is a young marriageable lady in need of a husband, an aloof, dashingly handsome but rakish duke, and enough sexual tension and plot twists to keep things interesting and the pages turning.
My full review HERE

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
5 stars


What an amazing true story! A family of 12 children, 6 of the boys acquire schizophrenia at a young age. Of course, this made them very interesting studies. Is it nature or nurture? The family is pretty dysfunctional, as you might expect, but the parents are pretty clueless about what to do, as there is not a lot of information at the time (the children are born between 1945 and 1065 and most of the children are symptom-free until their 20's). Most of the first-person accounts are told through the eyes of the two daughters, who are the youngest in the family and lived through the dysfunction, abuse and sometimes molestation, by the affected brothers. Very well researched and interviewing by the author.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson – 3***
Winterson’s semi-autobiographical debut novel has a protagonist who is also named Jeanette. It is a glimpse at one teenager’s path out of childhood and into adulthood. Oh, the angst of teen years! The confusion and questions that adults don’t seem to want to answer (heck, they don’t want you to even ask), the emotional roller coaster of attraction vs guilt. First published in 1985, I can see why it became so popular. But I’m long past this stage of life and I’ve read many books treating coming-of-age, including those featuring LGBTQ characters. I thought it was fine for its genre, but not particularly memorable to me.
My full review HERE

The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Patrick Ness
3/5 stars
"This" is the story of Mikey and his friends, ordinary kids living in times that are no longer ordinary. Indie students at their school are trying to prevent an Immortal invasion. Mikey does not want to accept that he is simply average but ultimately finds that having good friends is what makes life important."
https://www.supersummary.com/the-rest...
I read Ness' A Monster Calls and loved it but this book was just okay for me.

In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale
3 stars


If you watched Anthony Bourdain on TV you will get more out of this book than I did. I watched it a little and I did see the episode with President Obama, so that chapter was a little more interesting. The author worked closely with Bourdain and was deeply affected by his death. If you want to know more about Anthony Bourdain you should read one of his books. This book is more about what went on behind the scenes of the show. If you don't like liberal use of the f word than you should probably skip this.